


what i know about you (would fill a thousand books)

by iam93percentstardust



Series: Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV [10]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Gen, Insomnia, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, Not Iron Man 2 Compliant, Not MCU compliant, Past Abuse, Timeline What Timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 02:47:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29378016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iam93percentstardust/pseuds/iam93percentstardust
Summary: Here is what Tony knows about Sharon: she tells people she likes blueberry muffins because she thinks it makes her sound grown up, but she prefers chocolate donuts. She likes wildflowers and lilies and violets, but Queen Anne’s lace best of all and that’s what Natasha had brought her for their third date that had tipped her from liking this red-headed spy into loving her. On bad days, she curls up on the couch with the softest blanket she owns and watches old cartoons.Here is what Sharon knows about Tony: he used to love carrot cake but hasn’t touched it since the day his parents died while he and Sharon were out at dinner. He insists on always having her burner phone’s number when she’s a mission because the one time Fury told him he couldn’t have it, Sharon ended up with three broken ribs. He hates roses because they were what Tiberius always gave him after he did something like cheating on Tony or hitting him or mocking him in front of the press (Steve gives him blue poppies the same shade as the arc reactor and Sharon loves him for that).
Relationships: Sharon Carter & Tony Stark, Sharon Carter/Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984891
Comments: 25
Kudos: 157
Collections: Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV





	what i know about you (would fill a thousand books)

**Author's Note:**

> Title of Fill: what i know about you (would fill a thousand books)  
> Collaborator: iam93percentstardust  
> Card Number: 4012  
> Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29378016  
> Square Filled: S4 - Sharon Carter  
> Ship/Main Pairing: Carter-Stark Cousins, Stony, Natsharon  
> Rating: G  
> Major Tags/Warnings/Triggers: Established Relationship, Past Abuse, Insomnia  
> Summary: Here is what Tony knows about Sharon: she tells people she likes blueberry muffins because she thinks it makes her sound grown up, but she prefers chocolate donuts. She likes wildflowers and lilies and violets, but Queen Anne’s lace best of all and that’s what Natasha had brought her for their third date that had tipped her from liking this red-headed spy into loving her. On bad days, she curls up on the couch with the softest blanket she owns and watches old cartoons.
> 
> Here is what Sharon knows about Tony: he used to love carrot cake but hasn’t touched it since the day his parents died while he and Sharon were out at dinner. He insists on always having her burner phone’s number when she’s a mission because the one time Fury told him he couldn’t have it, Sharon ended up with three broken ribs. He hates roses because they were what Tiberius always gave him after he did something like cheating on Tony or hitting him or mocking him in front of the press (Steve gives him blue poppies the same shade as the arc reactor and Sharon loves him for that).  
> Word Count: 2284

Here is what the world knows about Tony Stark’s childhood: he’s born to Howard and Maria Stark and grows up surrounded by luxury. His father worked hand in hand with the Howling Commandos. Every year, Howard hosts a reunion for the Howlies, and ever since they’re introduced to a newborn Tony, they dote on him, despite Howard’s insistence that his son doesn’t need _more_ people to fawn over him.

Here is what the world knows about Sharon Carter’s childhood: not much. The world doesn’t really care about a single blonde child. But here’s what Director Nicholas Fury knows about her childhood: she’s raised by a single father, who happens to be the nephew to one Margaret Carter, and when her father is killed in a car crash when she’s three years old, her great-aunt swoops in to take her in. Director Carter never explicitly says that she retires to focus on her great-niece but Fury is more than capable of reading between the lines.

Here is what only a few people know about both of their childhoods: Tony spends every summer at Aunt Peggy’s house until he goes off to MIT when he’s fourteen. He never tells her but those summers are the happiest times of his childhood. The year he turns ten, his idyllic summer is interrupted by the arrival of his favorite cousin, who has no idea of how to care for a newborn and needs his aunt’s help. Tony doesn’t know how to care for a newborn either, but he’s as enamored of baby Sharon as she is of him so he helps as much as he can.

By the time Tony leaves for MIT four years later, he and Sharon are closer siblings than Aunt Peggy’s known some flesh-and-blood siblings to be. She never tells anyone, but she counts bringing the two of them together to be one of the best things she’s ever done in her life.

* * *

Sharon’s exhausted by the time she gets back to Avengers Tower. She doesn’t really _regret_ leaving her job at the CIA to take on being the Avengers’ liaison to the UN, but it certainly leaves her way more exhausted than her old job ever did. She gets it now, why Aunt Peggy had hated politicians so much.

It’s late, late enough that even JARVIS sounds weary when he welcomes her home as she steps onto the elevator. She leans her forehead against the cool metal wall as the elevator rises through the tower, dozing off just a little. Her phone chimes and Sharon pulls it out, smiling fondly as she reads Natasha’s text: _Let me know when you land_. Just like her girlfriend to send her a text asking her to check in. Natasha doesn’t know that she came back early, planning on surprising her for their anniversary tomorrow.

“Hey, JARVIS?” she asks.

“Yes, Agent Carter?”

“Don’t tell Natasha I’m back yet?”

“Of course. Only Sir and Captain Rogers are aware you’ve returned.”

In her sleep-befuddled state, it takes her a moment to realize why Steve would know she’s back. But of course, the team leader would need to be updated of the team’s whereabouts, even those not currently on the active duty roster.

“Thanks.”

The elevator stops and she steps out onto the team floors, intent on putting the chocolates she’d picked up in Geneva in the kitchen for people to swipe in the morning. The TV is playing softly in the living room and she pokes her head in, curious to see who’s still up.

It’s Steve, watching the playback from the team’s last mission. He perks up as soon as he hears her footsteps on the kitchen tile, only to droop when he realizes it’s her. It makes her pause, that reaction, and she sighs.

“How long has he been down there?” she asks.

“Three days,” Steve says quietly.

* * *

Here is what Tony knows about Sharon: she tells people she likes blueberry muffins because she thinks it makes her sound grown up, but she prefers chocolate donuts. She likes wildflowers and lilies and violets, but Queen Anne’s lace best of all and that’s what Natasha had brought her for their third date that had tipped her from liking this red-headed spy into loving her. On bad days, she curls up on the couch with the softest blanket she owns and watches old cartoons.

She has a habit of taking on more than she can chew and going into what she calls “anxiety spirals” when she realizes what she’s done that only Tony can talk her down from.

Here is what Sharon knows about Tony: he used to love carrot cake but hasn’t touched it since the day his parents died while he and Sharon were out at dinner. He insists on always having her burner phone’s number when she’s a mission because the one time Fury told him he couldn’t have it, Sharon ended up with three broken ribs. He hates roses because they were what Tiberius always gave him after he did something like cheating on Tony or hitting him or mocking him in front of the press (Steve gives him blue poppies the same shade as the arc reactor and Sharon loves him for that).

He always blames himself for things going wrong, even when there’s nothing he could have done, and he’ll stay up for days making sure that it never happens again.

* * *

Sharon sighs again. Three days ago, Clint fell off a ledge during a mission; Sharon had watched the fight on the UN’s monitors. Clint landed in a dumpster, which broke the worst of the fall, but he still ended up with a broken wrist. He won’t be joining the team on their missions for at least another couple of months while he recovers. If she knows Tony, he’s been down in the workshop ever since, working on something that’ll make sure Clint never breaks another wrist.

“Code not working?” she asks Steve. He shakes his head, looking exhausted down to his bones. “I’ll go down there.”

“You don’t have to,” Steve says quickly. “I know you’re tired.”

She smiles at him, appreciating how much he cares, but... “I’m sure you two are both tired as well.” He grins ruefully back at her, confirming that he hasn’t slept either since Tony disappeared into the workshop. “Someone has to drag him out, and I’ll bet he hasn’t thought about blocking my access.”

* * *

Here is what Tony thought the first time he met Natasha Romanoff: _You tried to shoot her the first time you saw her. You are not worthy of my little sister._

Here is what Sharon thought the first time she met Steve Rogers: _You told him you knew men worth ten of him. You are not worthy of my big brother._

Here is what Tony thought the first time he saw Natasha and Sharon together: _You bring her chocolate donuts and Queen Anne’s lace and know to put on Sleeping Beauty when she has a bad day. You might not be worthy of her but I don’t really think anyone is, and she loves you, so if I have to choose anyone, it might as well be you._

Here is what Sharon thought the first time she saw Steve and Tony together: _I still don’t know if you’re worthy of him, but you learned how to make cheesecake for him and you bring him poppies and you always make sure my phone number gets to him, even when Fury tells me I have to go completely dark, and he loves you, so if I have to choose anyone, it might as well be you._

* * *

The workshop walls are dark when she steps out onto the floor, but the door opens for her as easy as it always does, and she smiles. Maybe Tony didn’t realize he’d need to block her access too or maybe he just knows that that won’t fly with her, same as it won’t fly with Pepper, same as it wouldn’t fly with Steve if he ever realizes that he’s one of the few people Tony would let pull him from the workshop.

“You weren’t there to say hi,” she says as she steps inside.

Tony turns and blinks at her slowly, the shadows deep under his eyes. “I sent a car for you, didn’t I?” he says eventually but he’s missing the usual venom in his voice. He goes back to his work.

“That’s not the same thing.” She comes up behind him and wraps her arms around his waist, hooking her chin over his shoulder. Just as she’d suspected, he’s working on a new wrist guard for Clint, something sturdy enough to protect him from breaking his wrist but flexible enough it won’t inhibit his mobility. Sharon doesn’t really speak technobabble the way Tony does, but even she can tell that there are several mistakes in his formulas, probably from his lack of sleep.

“Steve misses you,” she tells him.

“I’ll come up when I’m done.”

“Or you can come up now and catch up on sleep. This will still be here tomorrow.”

“No,” he argues. “I have to make sure this is ready for Clint—”

“When will he be back on the duty roster?”

“Seven weeks, three days, and twelve hours,” Tony says automatically.

“And you don’t think this can wait another day?” she asks, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

Tony hesitates and then drops his head back onto her shoulder, saying to the ceiling, “I can’t sleep.”

Sharon wrinkles her brow. She knows that already, but Tony is already shaking his head.

“I mean, before…all this,” he explains, waving a limp hand in the air in the vague direction of the plans for Clint’s wrist guard.

Oh.

This happens sometimes, she knows. Tony’s insomnia acts up and he’ll spend a few days in the workshop, unable to sleep, or working from his bed because he thinks he should at least spend some time there. But as far as she knows, this is the first time it’s acted up while he’s been with Steve, and knowing Tony, he’s probably worried that Steve won’t like it if Tony spends all night in their bedroom working on his tablet. A silly concern really, she thinks Steve wouldn’t care if he was in literal hell as long as he was there with Tony, but Tony gets in his head about things like this.

“Well,” she begins hesitantly, “I won’t say that going to bed with your boyfriend is a sure way to get you to sleep, because that’s ridiculous, but I know that Steve’s been up as long as you have because he’s worried about you. So maybe you could go up there so he could get some sleep?”

Tony tilts his head to look at her. “He has?”

* * *

Here is what Tony knows about Sharon: there isn’t a thing in the world she wouldn’t do for Natasha.

Here is what Sharon knows about Tony: there isn’t a thing in the world he wouldn’t do for Steve.

* * *

She steps off the elevator for the third time that night, Tony trailing behind her. He brightens as soon as he sees Steve, stumbling past her into Steve’s waiting arms. Steve leans down and kisses the top of Tony’s head before shooting Sharon a grateful smile.

She winks back at him and then heads for the team’s private elevators, only available from this floor and the only way to reach their rooms. Grabbing Tony hadn’t taken too long but it’s still longer than she’d like when she has Natasha waiting for her in their bedroom. Tony’s all taken care of, Steve more than up to the task, so she can head to bed now.

Her and Natasha’s floor is almost entirely dark when she finally reaches it, except for a small sliver of light stretching out from underneath their bedroom door. Sharon navigates the floor easily, stepping around the furniture she can’t see and over the heels she’s sure Natasha has left lying around.

The bedroom door swings open before she reaches it, revealing her beautiful girlfriend framed in the light. Sharon smiles and reaches for her, cupping Natasha’s cheek in her hand as she kisses her.

“Hello, beautiful,” she murmurs. “I’m back.”

“Early,” Natasha remarks, clearly surprised.

Sharon shrugs. “It would have been earlier but I had to make a stop to pick up Tony.”

Natasha’s expression clears. “Steve’s been worried about him.”

Sharon nods. “That’s why I dragged him out.” She lets Natasha pull her inside their bedroom, herd her into the shower, and rinse off. Neither of them are much in the mood for a lengthy shower, so as soon as Sharon considers herself clean enough, she turns the water off, deciding that she’ll take another shower when she’s better rested.

They collapse into bed, Natasha curling around Sharon as soon as they’re situated. Sharon’s phone chimes once with a soft text message. She reaches over to the dresser, intent on turning the phone off, only to smile when she sees the message from Steve—a picture of Tony curled up, sound asleep on his bed.

“Turn it off, babe,” Natasha says sleepily, and Sharon would never deny her anything, so she does, and then wraps herself around Natasha.

* * *

Here is what Tony knows about Sharon: she is loved, by Aunt Peggy and Nick Fury and the agents under her command and Clint and Natasha.

Here is what Sharon knows about Tony: he is loved, by Aunt Peggy and the Avengers and Pepper and Rhodey and Steve.

Here is what they know about each other: they are loved, by a thousand other people, but by each other most of all.


End file.
